1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to the structure of eyeglass frames and the structure of nose pads for eyeglass frames. The present invention also relates to items that act in conjunction with nose pads to secure eyeglass frames to a wearer's head.
2. Prior Art Description
Eyeglasses have been in existence for hundreds of years. Traditionally, eyeglasses include a frame that supports two lenses. The eyeglass frame is held on a person's head using temple elements and nose pads. The temple elements pass along the side of the head and hook around the tops of the wearer's ears. This prevents the eyeglass frames from falling forward. The nose pads support the frames on the nose so that the frames are properly positioned in front of the wearer's eyes. The nose pads also cushion the contact between the eyeglass frames and the bridge of the wearer's nose so that the eyeglass frames do not cause discomfort. The nose pads work in conjunction with the temple elements to help prevent the eyeglass frames from moving side-to-side or sliding down the wearer's nose.
Since the primary purpose of nose pads on eyeglass frames is to contact the nose, nose pads typically have large contact surfaces that are angled to match the angle of the wearer's nose. The nose pads, therefore, disperse the weight of the eyeglasses on the bridge of the nose and make the eyeglasses more comfortable to wear. The nose pads are commonly mounted to wire pad arms that enable the angle of the nose pads to be altered slightly to match the anatomical features of different noses. Other types of nose pads are formed directly onto the frame of the eyeglasses and do not utilize wire pad arms. Regardless, the purpose of the nose pad is to increase the area upon which the eyeglasses rest upon the nose, thereby making the eyeglasses more comfortable to wear.
As many wearers of eyeglasses will profess, eyeglasses are often flipped up onto the top of the head while still being worn. This manipulation temporarily moves the eyeglasses away from the user's eyes. This manipulation is commonly performed with sunglasses when a person walks indoors, or with eyeglasses for farsightedness when a person wants to read. When eyeglasses are turned up onto the head, the notepads serve no useful purpose. The temple elements of the eyeglasses may still engage the ears, but more often they are separated from the ears so that much or all of the friction about the ear is lost. Rather, the eyeglasses are primarily held on the head by friction with the wearer's hair and/or by being balanced about the crown of the wearer's head. Such positioning is highly precarious. Consequently, the eyeglasses commonly fall forward onto the nose of the wearer or off the head whenever the wearer tilts his/her head forward. The tendency of the eyeglass to slip from the head increases as the contact point along the eyeglasses come into contact with sweat of the skin and the natural oils that coat the skin and hair.
In the prior art, there are many eyeglass frame designs that are designed to enable eyeglass lenses to “flip up” out of a person's line of light. However, such systems typically use hinges either in the temple elements of the eyeglasses or at the lens mounts. A problem associated with such hinge-based prior art eyeglass frames is that specialized frames must be used. The hinge elements cannot be added to existing sets of eyeglasses without replacing major structural elements of the eyeglasses.
In the prior art, it will be understood that the ability to keep a set of eyeglasses propped up on a person's head can be enhanced by the use of a tether that pulls the eyeglass frames against the head. The more a set of eyeglasses are pulled against a person's head, the more friction exists and the less likely it will be that the eyeglasses will slip. Tethers designed to retain eyeglasses are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,177 to Chisolm, entitled Eyeglass Retainer, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,704,961 to Weil, entitled Means For Supporting Spectacles.
A problem associated with the use of tethers is that tethers pull the structure of a set of eyeglasses against the head. The eyeglasses contact the head at hard points along the eyeglass frames. This can cause discomfort to a person wearing the eyeglasses in a raised position.
A need therefore exists in the art for a system that enables a set of eyeglasses to be flipped up above the eyes in a manner that is highly stable, yet requires no specialized frames or significant modifications to existing frames. A need also exists for a system that can be provided with a tether, wherein the tether does not bias the eyeglasses against a user's head in an uncomfortable manner. These needs are met by the present invention as described and claimed below.